2025 WORLD AQUATICS SWIMMING WORLD CUP – Toronto
- October 23-25, 2025
- Toronto, Canada
- SCM (25 meters)
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Recaps
Day one of the World Cup series in Toronto was fast with two World Records and numerous World Cup and National Records falling over the course of the evening. We also saw eight athletes win the $10,000 Triple Crown bonus, and one win the $2,500 “Crown Buster” prize for stopping a crown winner.
There were nine Triple Crown events today:
- Women’s 400 freestyle- Lani Pallister (AUS)
- Women’s 50 backstroke- Kaylee McKeown (AUS)
- Men’s 200 backstroke- Hubert Kos (HUN)
- Women’s 200 butterfly- Regan Smith (USA)
- Men’s 100 butterfly- Noe Ponti (SUI)
- Women’s 200 breaststroke- Kate Douglass (USA)
- Women’s 50 freestyle- Kasia Wasick (POL)
- Women’s 100 IM- Gretchen Walsh (USA)
- Men’s 100 IM- Shaine Casas (USA)
Everyone except for Noe Ponti defended their crown, winning the $10,000 bonus, amounting to a monster $80,000 awarded just in Triple Crown bonuses tonight, excluding the extra World Record bonuses.
The men’s 100 fly was the only upset of the evening, with Canadian Josh Liendo winning the men’s 100 fly in a new World Record time of 47.68. Ponti finished 3rd overall, coming in behind Ilya Kharun‘s 48.35 in 48.38.
Liendo was officially the first “Crown Buster,” and as such, he received the first ever $2,500 bonus to add to his $10,000 World Record check.
There are 18 Triple Crown events coming over the next two days, and we will likely see a few more “Busts” before the end of the series.
- See Also: The Five Crowns Most Likely to Be Busted At the Toronto World Cup
- See Also: Who are the Potential “Crown Busters” at Final World Cup Stop in Toronto
See all the athletes in the running for a Triple Crown:
Men
- Jack Alexy (USA) – 100 free
- Shaine Casas (USA) – 100 IM, 200 IM
- Caspar Corbeau (NED) – 200 breast
- Luke Hobson (USA) – 200 free
- Ilya Kharun (CAN) – 50 fly, 200 fly
- Hubert Kos (HUN) – 50 back, 100 back, 200 back
Noe Ponti (SUI) – 100 fly
Women
- Kate Douglass (USA) – 100 free, 100 breast, 200 breast
- Kaylee McKeown (AUS) – 50 back, 200 back
- Mollie O’Callaghan (AUS) – 200 free
- Lani Pallister (AUS) – 400 free, 800/1500 free
- Regan Smith (USA) – 100 back, 200 fly
- Alex Walsh (USA) – 200 IM
- Gretchen Walsh (USA) – 50 fly, 100 fly, 100 IM
- Kasia Wasick (POL) – 50 free
Bold indicates Crowns that were won
Only women’s events that aren’t up for triple crowns are the 50 breast + 400 IM… kinda sus
As a casual international swimming fan – is Kasia Wasick a big name? I’ve never heard of her before and all the other triple crown hopefuls are super well known.
Yes, medium-big name. Certainly one that most of our readers are familiar with. She was an All-American (but not like…legendary) college swimmer at USC when USC was an elite program, but has never stopped improving after college, which is rare. She basically only has one event so that limits her “greatness” compared to a Regan Smith or someone who has 4 good events, but she’s one of the best ever in that one event.
Has been in the US for a long time now, married to an American.
Can those that are still swimming in the NCAA accept the prize money?
No, but there are a couple of loopholes. You can accept prize money up to your actual costs, and if it is filtered through your National Olympic Committee, you can accept it.
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t that excited for the World Cup because I haven’t seen it before and I’m less interested in short course. But the storylines across meets have been so interesting that I’ve been fully dialed in for stops 2 and 3.
I think the concepts of triple crowns, crown busters, and swimmers strategizing to maximize points (ex: KD dropping the 1 IM) are really interesting. I wonder if World Aquatics/USA Swimming can do a better job promoting this to non swim fans? I feel like the 3-stop World Cup should have a lot of appeal.
“I wonder if World Aquatics/USA Swimming can do a better job promoting this to non swim fans?”
Hell will probably freeze over before World Aquatics and USA Swimming promote swimming to non swim fans.
If they did, they would’ve have streamed the world cup series on YouTube.
They wall gardened elite swimming.
They’re dinosaurs.
sure to appeal to “non swim fans”
lets add some diving, eliminate those slow breaststroke events, and get rid of any swims over 200 meters.
should be able to wrap up in less than one hour!